An Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) displays information about programs a viewer is currently watching as well as information about other programs on different channels or at different times. The first EPGs were typically displayed on one channel of a cable television system. These early EPGs were simple, displaying short program descriptions and scrolling past the screen at a predetermined rate. Also, these EPGs typically did not allow for user interaction. More recent digital EPGs allow for the user to interact with the programming schedule, and to view programs while scanning the guide. However, digital EPGs still typically rely on the television as a means of showing the EPG.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical home entertainment system. Home entertainment system 10 comprises signal input 15, set-top box 20, television based web-browser 25, recording device 30, auxiliary recording device 35, stereo receiver 40, digital versatile disk (DVD) player 45, and television or other video monitor 50.
Entertainment system 10 could have, in addition to the connections shown, networking connections for set-top box 20, web-browser 25, and recording device 30. Many of these devices require either telephone connections or Internet connections in order to program them.
Entertainment system can be difficult for the novice user to set up. Additionally, because the connections between the components are typically analog, the number of connections between input 15 and television 50 can seriously degrade the signal quality.
What is needed is a way to simplify the connections required for an entertainment system, in addition to reducing the amount of signal degradation present in the typical entertainment system.